Student disengagement in the post-COVID era: Preliminary results of a survey of higher ed faculty

Concurrent Session 6

Brief Abstract

The pandemic has made college more challenging for students, and although faculty members have adopted a more caring pedagogy to help students cope with the many challenges of the pandemic, it does not seem to be nearly enough to keep students engaged in the learning process. Educators across the country have expressed concerns about the magnitude of the level of disengagement they are experiencing with college level students regardless of modality. What does disengagement look like pre and post COVID era? How do we define disengagement? How do we address it? Attend this presentation to learn about preliminary survey results addressing the issue.

Presenters

Additional Authors

Martonia Gaskill, University of Nebraska Kearney

Dr. Martonia Gaskill is an Assistant Professor of Education in the College of Education at UNK. Currently teaches online graduate courses in general education and instructional technology, and undergraduate level face to face classes in instructional technology in the Department of Teacher Education. Dr. Gaskill has over fifteen years of experience in online learning, instructional design, online pedagogy, and currently serves director of the Curriculum & Instruction Online Masters Program. Her research interests include online learning, collaboration in online environments, mobile learning, digital cheating, pre-service teacher education, and technology integration into teaching and learning.

Mark Ellis, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Extended Abstract

The pandemic has made college more challenging for students, and although faculty members have adopted a more caring pedagogy to help students cope with the many challenges of the pandemic, it does not seem to be nearly enough to keep students engaged in the learning process. Educators across the country have expressed concerns about the magnitude of the level of disengagement they are experiencing with college level students regardless of modality.  In his article titled 'My Students Are Not OK', Malesic (2022) descibes his experience with the aftermath of the pandemic related to student learning. A third of his students were missing nearly every time regardless of the institution status (public or private), and the disegagement could be clearly seen in attendance patterns, late assignments, low participation and poor quality of work. Another article by McMurtrie (2022) titled "A Stunning Level of Student Disconnect" describes a collection of faculty concerns on the widespread lack of student engagement experienced by higher education faculty where students from a wide range of institutions (small, large, private, community college, ivy league) are described as defeated, exhausted and overwhelmed showing a common pattern across the country. What does disengagement look like pre and post COVID era? How do we define disengagement? How do we address it? Attend this presentation to learn about preliminary survey results addressing the issue.